


Erised

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Category: Houdini & Doyle (TV)
Genre: Gen, Harry Houdini in So In Love™, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-09 01:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7781089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adelaide's moving on from Benjamin.</p><p> <br/><strike>Harry wishes that she was moving on with <i>him</i>.</strike></p>
            </blockquote>





	Erised

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt: You've got a date tonight and you asked for advice on what to wear but I'm so in love with you and damn you look good in the outfit I picked out for you.[X](http://nerds-are-cool.tumblr.com/post/133544218971)**
> 
> Yeah, again, all we need is more pain here, right? I can't stop. I have so many Harry feels. x_x
> 
> I do not own _Houdini & Doyle _. Thanks for reading!

"It's my first... my first date since Benjamin."

Houdini licks his lips, fingers fumbling as he helps Adelaide with her necklace. "Yeah? Good for you." He breathes in slowly, and finally catches the clasp. "No reason someone like you should be alone forever just because of what he did."

The words hurt. The whole situation does. He does not show it.

Ever since he had kissed her, ever since Benjamin had returned and subsequently truly died, everything had changed. Houdini hates it. He's too in love with her. It hurts to be in love with her, it hurts to see her going out on a date with someone else. He isn't sure what he's even _doing_ here.

Yes, he is. Adelaide had asked him for advice. She had actually asked him for advice, and Harry would have normally thrilled at the opportunity. But she had asked for advice on _going on her first date since Benjamin_ and... it wasn't a date with him.

And that stings. Just a little. _Just_ a little.

He is close enough to smell her hair, her perfume, the scent of her skin. He could just as easily turn his face into hers, press into her body. Slip his arms around her waist and tilt her chin up to capture her mouth. He tries not to think about it. He _is_ thinking about it.

Adelaide turns to look at him and her face is _so_ close and Houdini's breath catches in his throat. Adelaide's expression changes. Harry cringes. He's being obvious, too.

"Harry..."

"Hang on." The base need to _avoid_ this conversation propels him to action; his fingers flutter to her hair to fix a few strands falling loose, to pluck at a pin and slip it back in just so. "There, that's better. Now we just need some earrings to match and you're set. Where do you keep them, again?" He pretends he doesn't know, turning away from her to walk across her small room, fingers trailing against the top of the dresser, reaching for the jewellery box. "Let's see..."

She does not protest his pawing through her things as he expects. He carefully sorts through the earrings, and closes his eyes for a moment. He doesn't want her to see his face, and he isn't certain that he can handle seeing hers, just in this moment. He settles on a pair of dark jade earrings and spins back to face her, faking his enthusiasm oh so perfectly. "I think these are good, what do you think?"

Adelaide's face is less than perfect, expression controlled but _not enough_. "They're perfect," she says quietly, and smiles even though it doesn't each her eyes.

Houdini moves forward to hand them to her. "You can only choose perfect for perfection."

She swallows, and forces the smile, and takes the earrings.

Houdini must imagine that her fingers linger on his skin.

Ever since that day he had kissed her, he is impossibly aware of the fact that he cannot do it again. He had said that he wouldn't, and she said ‘good’ and his heart had fallen but he had decided then and there that whatever made her happy, would be good enough for him.

If it hurt like hell, then maybe he deserved it.

"There," he says, once Adelaide had hooked on the earrings. "You look gor- good." He frowns, and shakes his head minutely. "You'll have a great time. Or I'll know why." He expects she thinks that that is a joke. He himself is unsurprised when he realises it isn't. He had stooped to following his mother on a date; he would _assuredly_ for Adelaide. He would make sure whoever had her, whoever _wanted_ her? They were going to treat his girl right.

_His girl._

Houdini wants to sigh. And he smiles instead.

 


End file.
